Jump to content

my setup


HexaD

Recommended Posts

Small update with the tank, had 2 CRS deaths over the month but I guess that had more to do with age as I around 20 shrimplets swimming around. very happy! However, I am having some issues with the dark chocolates. I had 6 in the breeding box above and lost 4 when they swam out thru the small holes (including the pregnant female). I came back from work one day and couldn't find any dead shrimp or jumpers on the ground, they just *poofed* and vanished without a trace. :( But at least the 2 left (luckily a pair) in the breeding box were safe and after a month of perseverance, the female finally got pregnant this morning is spectacular style!

7613DD0C-EF5D-43DF-8EBF-8D326BCDA82C-4043-00000355C0B18E03.jpg3B54D5D4-2683-4DAC-B9FA-7612FEEA1868-4043-00000355C905E4AD.jpg

This iPhone photo doesn't do her justice but under the light she was illuminating a small tint of red, blue and green! Truly amazing! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 167
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • HexaD

    48

  • Gbang

    9

  • Eshrimp

    9

  • ineke

    9

Thank HexaD for the update...Good luck mate with the chocs (very solid colour)...I am enjoying reading and looking @ your thread...CJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OH NO GUYS, GOT HOME TODAY AND SAW MY PREGNANT DARK CHOCOLATE LYING SIDE WAYS, I QUICKLY GOT HER OUT OF THE BREEDING BOX AND INTO THE OPEN WATER WHERE THERE IS MORE CIRCULATION AND OXYGEN, but......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnKPkou-3qQ

I can tell she hasnt given up yet, she is still alive and kicking when I move her and is able to swim!

F0EDD76D-46F7-4D0C-91C2-E497A3FD2637-11970-00000B88EFC5BDE1.jpg0F4BA08E-16E5-455A-8084-27E109032132-11970-00000B88FB40E438.jpg

I've since put her into a net in front of the spray bar ...............

CBBB6970-2728-458C-8194-0B29A27F3AF0-11970-00000B890458829B.jpg

Could it be too much debris and nitrate went up? Or is there planaria? ANY TIPS? PLEASE HELP :( :( :( :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh no! That looks really bad, I've never had this happen to me as I have an air pump for my shrimps, hope it all works out well!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On dear :(

If she doesn't make it, there is still a chance you can save her eggs. Gbang did a great post on how to extract and hatch them http://www.shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/content.php/145-Gbang-s-guide-to-shrimp-adoption-AKA-egg-tumbling

*edit*

Just realised you probably know that and have probably done it before. Hopefully you will still be able to save these guys :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh hexd that vid was bad as to watch, poor girl looked like she was trying to get up. Hope she pulls through for ya as she is a very nice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the support guys

@Jess I have experience but no success in tumbling the eggs tho, wish they had some professional tools for sale to accomplish this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DACI74o0Tgw&feature=youtu.be

After 2 hours under the spray bar, she seems to be able hold herself up, I've given her the mission that if she can swim out of the net, she should be strong enough, lets just hope she proves me right! I'm still flustered as to what happened, I have a oxydator in the breeding box, so shouldn't be an oxygen problem.

80629A10-4B60-40CC-B30C-79201F1C6096-12231-00000BCBA4385EC5.jpg

Could it be malnutrition? I only had some moss in the box and it was very hard not to overfeed the two shrimps in there. Once I put a bee polen granule in there and they could hardly finish it, i wanted to net it up but it just disintegrated. Since she's been in the net, I've dozed Mosura BT9, Bioplus and Tonic Pro..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh hexd that vid was bad as to watch' date=' poor girl looked like she was trying to get up. Hope she pulls through for ya as she is a very nice.[/quote']

Agreed....that was a tough video to watch ! Best of luck ....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hay HexaD

whats the ph in that tank? im sure you know this but cherry dont like the low ph range. sorry if you answered this already as i didnt read the complete thread.

the other thing is that the oxidator shouldnt really be in the breeder box, it should be somewhere with good flow all around it in a open area. not confined to the small area of the box..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Dean and BB,

From memory my tap water is 6.5 but that's before it goes through the RO system, I will have to check it again tonight as I really seldom do PH test.. I thought that having an oxydator in a small confinement would circulate some dead water, apparently not lol.

That's the main issue I find with in-tank breeding boxes, if the holes are too big, the shrimp escape, too small and you get dead spots. Compare that to the external hang-on ones which get plenty of oxygen and circulation via an air pump, they tend to get affected more by room temp in summer. Hopefully with the popularity of shrimps, we will get to see new innovative products which fix these issues :)

I went to check on her before I went to bed last night and realized that she escaped from the net, which can only be a good thing right? But I found her lying sideways struggling to get up in the glass dish.. Worried that the other shrimp might pick on her, I scooped her up into the net and placed her under the spray bar again, only thing is this time I placed another net on top so she could only escape from the tight side openings

C132ACD3-AC28-4E81-B694-C20838EDC71F-12728-00000C28A4EDEDB5.jpg

And she did me proud! This morning I found her out of the net and standing/hiding next to the driftwood hiding. The photo is a bit unforgiving as I had to enlarge it with my 4S and the angle is a bit magnified by the Cade, so fingers crossed! Can't wait to get home today, looking at adding a sponge filter to help and hopefully she will still be alive when I get home today!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you considered using intake box, with small airstone in there, just to keep the water moving?

Combining both bits of technology, to suit your needs?

I have been looking at ideas myself, and was swayed by both these restrictions on in and outside type boxes.

Maybe even hooking the external box up to a small(really small so its not too blowy in there) pump, which pumps fresh water into the box (which is actually inside the tank.., air stone in there as well to help) then have some small holes to let water back into tank.

Make sense?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • HOF Member

Best of luck HexaD so much effort and things can still go wrong. Reading this blog makes me realise how little I know and how lucky I am that I haven't killed off my RCS through ignorance (yet) :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys, it's just frustrating for me to acknowledge that they aren't like your average single pet i.e. dog, where you can take them to the vet and find out what's wrong on the spot. It's the pain of finding a dead shrimp, and then getting over it on the weekend because you know you can either just buy more or it was just the single one from 10++ other shrimplets that pains me.

Have you considered using intake box, with small airstone in there, just to keep the water moving? Combining both bits of technology, to suit your needs? I have been looking at ideas myself, and was swayed by both these restrictions on in and outside type boxes.Maybe even hooking the external box up to a small(really small so its not too blowy in there) pump, which pumps fresh water into the box (which is actually inside the tank.., air stone in there as well to help) then have some small holes to let water back into tank.
IT DOES! Come to think of it I could insert an air tube in, the holes should fit, the only issue I can think of is the bubbles will push against the dividers I have on top of the lid. Reason is the holes on the lid are wide enough for the shrimp to escape and I am currently putting the breeding box's dividers to cover the holes. But you never know till you try, I'll post some pics tonight :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im sure you can make something work.

Maybe get a cheap box off ebay, and chop it up a bit to suit?

I was thinking when i get mine to get a box, and keep the dividers out, and remove mum once laid and keep the young ones in the box.. It's just a matter of finding one which holes are not too big for babies to escape.

Air stone in, and hook up a pump to pump water through the box, and out the slits in the side/top, where ever they may be..

Keeping the entire box below the water level, with some smaller holes in the lip to let the air flow through and out the top of the box.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its such a nice solid black cherry you've got there, the best thing to do is not to disturb her too much. The more you disturb them the more likely you will kill them IMO. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ b00f, I decided to take out the breeding box as I don't have any other specific specimens to breed and I'll be heading overseas for a month. But since I'll be going to HK, I am looking forward to shopping around Goldfish St and see what awesome gadgets they have :D

@ Kitz, I agree in not disturbing her, but I was very worried she that was too weak and she would get bullied/eaten by the other shrimps, especially when she has tasty eggs in her belly lol

2A31F6EC-483E-4769-974E-7F26133CC663-13722-00000D0E745FFF4F.jpg44CC1466-08F9-4F28-91CE-0D160863DBED-13722-00000D0E6E4ED177.jpg

Well, this was the last I saw of her before heading off to work yesterday morning, going all spidey and hanging upside down, so I assumed that she is feeling much better..

However, she has been MIA since. I came back home and stared frantically at the tank for 1-2 hours before making a risky move. My head kept telling me to refrain myself from putting my hands in but they were too itchy lol, so I lifted everything in the tank.. And nothing. Guess it's all over then :crushed: Missing till further notice, and the most frustrating thing is seeing the male choc flyinggggggg happily around the tank and popping up everywhere!

Which brings me to another question, what do you guys do before dipping your hands into the tank? Is there a standard procedure? i.e. I come back from work, use dettol on my hands, wash it thoroughly, dry it on a towel, before putting them in. Is that ok?

4657E9B9-2026-4BFB-A493-3A5650F7171E-13722-00000D0E79FDBA0D.jpg806FCDAB-EB3D-49C8-BFB0-B1625EB5E239-13722-00000D0E81064E59.jpg

I took some other pics to keep my mood up. The CBS babies would have thrilled me so much (they still do), but to think I would be affected by a missing cherry so much a year ago truly shows how far this hobby has come! :o:cool: I <3 shrimping!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's an interesting question you raised about cleaning hands. I usually only put my hands in when it's been hours since I've done anything and never on days when I've touched chemicals.

I would be concerned using the dettol as a little bit of it is absorbed in your outer skin layers, at least that what I understand as you can smell it on your skin later even after washing. Happy to hear the opinions of others.

By the way, what is the moss in the last picture?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's what I thought too about the dettol, its like you never know what's left on your hand after you come back from work or after doing the dishes an hour ago, lets see what the other say! The last moss in the pic is mini fissidens :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...